Contribution rules are changing — but not GOP dominance

TALLAHASSEE — The campaign accounts of Florida's political class are about to get a bit heftier.

Thanks to a campaign-finance-reform bill passed last spring, state lawmakers during the next year will be able to raise twice the cash from contributors: $1,000 per person instead of $500.

Candidates for statewide offices such as Gov. Rick Scott can collect a whopping $3,000 per giver, up from $500. Critics say more money will open the floodgates to more campaign ads, mailers and robo-calls. Some research suggests the higher limits also lead to fewer small donors.

"This will be extremely beneficial to incumbents," said Deirdre Macnab, president of the League of Women Voters of Florida, because they'll get to roll over larger amounts of unspent campaign cash into their next elections.

"What we don't want to have happen is a World Wide Wrestling sort of predetermined outcome with elections," she added.

But Republican lawmakers who pushed the idea say campaigns were getting more expensive anyway, and the higher limits will make it easier and less time-consuming for all candidates to raise money.

"The cost of running for office has been rising since well before our efforts to reform Florida's campaign-finance system," said House Speaker Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel. "Our goal was not to make campaigns more expensive, but instead to increase accountability and transparency" by requiring more-frequent reporting.

What's more, the U.S. Supreme Court has already made it easier for corporations and unions to pour more resources into federal campaigns in its Citizens United ruling and may soon strike down the limits on how much donors can give to multiple campaigns.

Across Central Florida, candidates lining up for legislative seats have shown no signs of problems raising cash — particularly for leadership posts.

Brevard County's Steve Crisafulli, R-Merritt Island, who is slated to take over as House speaker after the 2014 elections, raked in more cash than any other House candidate — $155,183 for the quarter — even though he doesn't have a Democratic challenger.

Crisafulli has raised a total of $222,883 since he was tapped to replace Chris Dorworth as speaker after the Lake Mary Republican lost his 2012 re-election.

Former Rep. Eric Eisnaugle, R-Orlando, who is campaigning for House speaker in 2020, banked just a little more than $6,000 for the quarter but has raised $150,045 in total. His lone Democratic opponent in the District 44 seat in Orange County being vacated by Rep. Steve Precourt is Shaun Raja of Orlando, who has raised just $500.

The two biggest Democratic races are so far drawing fewer dollars.

Rep. Karen Castor Dentel, a Maitland Democrat who was one of the party's pickups in 2012, raised $28,305 for the quarter and has a little more than $48,000 total in the bank. Three Republicans are squaring off to campaign against her, with Jonathan Scott Sturgill of Maitland raising the most ($12,025).

And in the House District 29 race in Seminole County, incumbent Democratic Rep. Mike Clelland, D-Lake Mary, raised $43,353 for the quarter and has collected a little more than $100,000 so far. His challenger, Republican former Rep. Scott Plakon, raised $21,185 for the quarter and $58,235 in total.

Statewide, there's no break in the decade-plus fundraising dominance by Republicans, who control the Governor's Mansion, all three Cabinet seats and both chambers of the Legislature.

The Republican Party of Florida last week reported raising $5.1 million since July, compared with the Florida Democratic Party's total of just $1.4 million. For the 2014 elections so far, the state GOP has raised $14 million, four times the $3.5 million raised by Democrats.

The GOP's biggest giver this year is Blue Cross and Blue Shield, or Florida Blue, the health-insurance giant poised to expand under Florida's Medicaid managed-care overhaul. The company has given the party $640,000 and a total of $1.3 million to all candidates and parties.

The second-biggest was Walt Disney World, which has poured $557,000 into the RPOF and a total of $740,000 to all parties and candidates. Disney is saddling up for a major fight over whether to allow casino gambling in Florida, and another of the Republicans' biggest givers was Malaysian casino developer Genting ($375,000).

"The Republican majority has been in place going on 16 years. That's an entire generation of Floridians. You're not going to see a dramatic shift anytime soon," said incoming House Minority Leader Mark Pafford, a West Palm Beach Democrat.

The one wild card is the Governor's Mansion, which Democrats for years have eyed as the best way to start reversing their decades-long decline.

"If we do have a candidate that can challenge Rick Scott, then that is going to change," Pafford said.